Smartstrap Ideas for Pebble Time

Pebble has done things differently right from the beginning when they launched the Classic model, with a beautiful e-ink display and a massive battery life of 7 days. This year they came up with major improvements like the color display, all new design, with the heart and soul of the classic version. One of the things that got me really interested was the introduction of smartstraps. What this means is that you can swap out your default strap with special ones which provide extra functionalities to your watch. So, here are few smartstraps ideas that I think would be really cool if it were to be made.

Extra Battery 

When it comes to Pebble Time, there is no worrying about its battery life. With a week of battery life, you’ll hardly be charging this watch. Nonetheless, I do think a battery strap would be really awesome. With the added battery life of the strap, the watch is sure to run for an additional week or two of heavy usage, which makes it even easier for us as we’d have to charge it in even lesser intervals of time. I had seen a Kickstarter project of similar nature with a solar charging strap, but it got cancelled due to lack of funding.

LED Lights

The LED light that are built into most of our phones today, primarily serve as flash for taking photos and videos. I end up using it more as a flashlight most of the time. Similarly, it would be super convenient if I were able to use my watch as a flashlight by simply adding a new strap with onto it. To spice things up, we  could as well stuff in some more LEDs and make it somewhat like the JBL Pulse Speakers which would then glow the colors that we set it to from our watch or according to the music being played on your phone.

Extra Storage

The original Pebble watch came with storage that was only enough to hold exactly 8 applications. The new Pebble watch lets you access unlimited number of apps despite having similar storage specs. This is possible due to the fact that those apps are loaded onto your watch temporarily through your phone every time try and run them. This causes an inconvenience when your phone isn’t around. That’s when a storage strap comes into play. It would give extra storage to your device, and would allow you to use all apps, without the need of your phone being nearby. With the extra storage, it would also be really clever if there were to be a speaker to play music out of it.

Camera 

It would be crazy to think about a camera being installed on a smartwatch but let me tell you there have been few of them out there in the market (Samsung Galaxy Gear).  You may be wanting to spy on someone, or just to record some of your adventures; our huge smartphones may not quite be suitable for this purpose so a strap of such kind would be perfect for these situations. Having a camera is really good, and although the quality may be rather poor, it’s better to have a poor camera helping you snap a moment than none at all.

Extra Buttons 

Most smartwatches today offer a touchscreen with one or no buttons. Pebble is quite different from most of them. It’s got a class of its own. With 4 buttons and no touchscreen in 2016, it is definitely an interesting piece of technology. Just so that it wasn’t enough for you, I have a strap with additional buttons in mind. It could have a bunch of keys that could be used to do coolstuff like playing games, control smart home devices, or maybe even dial a number if you’re into that sort of thing.

IR Blaster

I was really impressed when Samsung came up with an IR Blaster on the Galaxy S4. Having lost couple of TV remotes in the past, the IR remote functionality on the phone really helped me out. Similarly, if a strap were to be made with an IR blaster built into it, I would definitely pick one up. It would allow you to control not only your TV but also other devices like AC, DVD Player, Audio Systems, and a bunch more.

When are you going to upgrade from your dumb strap? Any other cool concepts that you have in mind? Let us know in the comments below!

8 thoughts on “Smartstrap Ideas for Pebble Time”

  1. I know that there are now KS campaigns for wireless payments & heart rate monitor on separate straps. I wish it was combined into one.

    Reply
  2. I have some ideas:
    -A strap with a USB plug included on one end, so you ALWAYS have a way to charge your Pebble, no need for an extra cable.
    -A strap with an speaker. Mostly for hearing Siri responses.. or just plain using Siri! (Siri does not recognises the pebble Mic as an blutooth headphone because its lack of speaker…)
    -Touch sensitive strap. Or even better, a gesture sensitive strap (somehow reads the movement of your fingers)… using Pebble one handed would be great.

    Reply

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